Hostages seized at Iraq university
Militants in Iraq have stormed a university campus in the western city of Ramadi, taking dozens of students and staff hostage.
One report said some guards had been killed at the Anbar University campus.
The unconfirmed report also said the militants were from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant group.
The western province of Anbar is a focal point of Iraq’s rising sectarian violence, with a number of areas controlled by Sunni militants.
Parts of Ramadi have been under their control for months.
Sealed off
Police said militants had infiltrated the campus from the neighbouring al-Tasha district, blowing up a bridge that connects to the university’s main gate.
Security forces have sealed off the campus.
The staff and students are reportedly being held in a dormitory.
The violence in Anbar meant there was no voting there in the 30 April parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s alliance won the elections, but fell short of a majority.
Mr Maliki wants a third term, but other parties have voiced strong opposition.
They blame him for the sectarian violence, which has left more than 3,500 people dead this year, and accuse him of trying to monopolise power.
He blames external factors like the conflict in Syria for exacerbating the violence, and his opponents for the current political stalemate.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has carried out dozens of deadly attacks both in Iraq and Syria and imposes strict Islamic rule in the areas it controls.
On Thursday, scores of unidentified militants stormed checkpoints in the central Iraqi city of Samarra.
The advance was eventually halted when helicopter gunships and military reinforcements, including members of Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism forces, were sent in.
The army said some 80 insurgents died.
